Television

2011 TV Dramas: The Ever Growing Influence of Cable

At the turn of the year 2011, we did the expected year-end review
of what was exciting and disappointing over the past twelve months. In
the process, something — I wouldn’t have noticed just by considering my
own selections — jumped at me when looking at the consolidated choices
from the TV staff: almost everything worth praising in the drama
category, from the shows themselves to actors and actresses
performances, came from cable TV. If you have been following the gradual
transformation of the TV landscape in the U.S. over the past few years,
this might not come as a surprise, but it still made us wonder just how
much 2011 had contributed to that general trend.

Goodfellas TV Show Being Developed at AMC

Martin Scorsese’s 1990 crime drama film Goodfellas is being developed for television. AMC is working with writer Nicholas Pileggi – who penned the original screenplay as well as the book Wiseguy on which Goodfellas was based – and producers Irwin and David Winkler to develop a TV version of the film.

The film starred Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci and went on to become a financial, but more significantly critical success. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director and won one for Pesci in the Best Actor in a Supporting Role category. It also won five awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts including Best Film.

Supernatural – Adventures in Babysitting

This week marked the return of the majority of prime-time television to our screens, meaning of course that Friday was all about Supernatural. The mid-season finale was something of a strange one, combining a series of good individual moments together to make what ended up as a mediocre pile of frustration. Bobby had caught a bullet the week before and we got to see a fairly emotional aftermath to that, but the way things ended up was just stupid. Now that the month long cliffhanger is over, we have ourselves “Adventures in Babysitting.”

I am not entirely sure where to begin with this episode. It certainly had elements that made it scrape just above unwatchable, but following up a month-long break with this was a terrible idea. The episode began with the standard introduction to the weekly hunt and then moved on with a scene reminiscent of – I cannot believe I am about to say this – The Twilight Saga: New Moon, in which the brothers mope around whilst time slowly ticks by. Admittedly, Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles can hold the screen slightly better than Kristen “no emotion whatsoever” Stewart can, but it was awkward to the point of laughable. Although intuition would tell you the answer, we still didn’t have absolute confirmation that Bobby was dead until five minutes into the episode, because that’s how long it actually took one of the brothers to speak.

Development Projects News: Mutiny, Copycat Murders, and Ménage à trois

The fall pilot season is upon us, and networks got down to business  right after the New Year celebrations with brand new deals, which  includes dusting off old ones.

ABC has given a pilot order to Last Resort, a military drama from Shawn  Ryan (The Shield) and Karl Gajdusek. The show centers around the crew of a U.S. nuclear submarine who, after refusing to follow orders to fire some missiles, settle on a NATO listening outpost and proclaim themselves the world’s smallest nuclear nation (with 24 warheads). The story is set in a near future where the U.S. is fractured enough for circumstances leading up to the mutiny to take  place. [via: Deadline Hollywood]

Community is Officially Returning!

The chairman of NBC Entertainment, Bob Greenblatt, has officially stated for the first time that cult hit sitcom Community will return to complete its third season. When the show was pulled back in November, statements were released that vaguely suggested that the show would be returning “at some point in the future,” but based on past experiences with similar statements, the internet was largely distrusting.

“I want to dispel any notion that [Community is] just quietly disappearing from the schedule,” Greenblatt told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour today. “I failed to explicitly say it will be back.” Greenblatt’s insistence that the show will be back should soothe fans of the comedy, but he was fairly vague when questioned about the possibility of a fourth season for the show.

The Best and Worst of TV in 2011

With 2012 arriving today, we take a look back at the highs and lows of television in 2011. Each of our staff members chose a winner and runner-up for each award, which includes standard categories like best drama/comedy and dubious awards such as the show that needs to end the most.

Sci-Fi and Fantasy Authors News: Neil Gaiman Defends a Cause and G.R.R. Martin Teases

Two of the most talked-about contemporary authors in the world of genre shows, sci-fi, and fantasy were in the news this week, one giving an interview following his defense of free speech on campus (or just Firefly?) and the other teasing his fans with a chapter of his upcoming book.

Renown comic book, sci-fi, and fantasy author Neil Gaiman (Neverwhere, American Gods, Stardust) sat for an interview in which he explained why he threw his support behind James Miller, professor of theater and speech, in the confrontation the latter had with his employer at the University of Wisconsin, Stout. Miller displayed a Firefly poster outside his office with a quote from Mal (Nathan Fillion): “You don’t know me son, so let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you’ll be awake, you’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed.” This did not sit well with the university and it took some activism and the support of Gaiman and his 1.6 million twitter followers to make free speech prevail. [via: The Huffington Post]